A Meaningless Hobby

What was my intention for starting this blog?

Why call it "meaningless" if I'm putting my precious energy into it.?

Why  not call it something else, like "my latest kick-ass moment"?

These questions came from an email I received in response to my blog notification email. My initial reaction was, ugh, i don't know!  don't ask. But then I thought more about it.

First the name. Meaningless hobby. What is meaningless? Is anything really meaningless? What's meaningless becomes meaningful. That's the whole point. Isn't it? Everything is meaningful. 

Or nothing means anything at all; everything's meaningless.

 Depends on the philosophical perspective. Depends on my mood. 

What stumped me more is the hobby part of meaningless hobby.  Is a blog a hobby? Is my blog a hobby? What the heck is a hobby?

Hobby: a small Old World falcon (Falco subbuteo) that is dark blue above and white below with dark streaking on the breast

That's not what this is. So, let's try again:
Hobby: a pursuit outside one's regular occupation engaged in especially for relaxation

Ok, that's a hobby. So, if this blog is my hobby, that means I only write in it to help me relax. Not because I have to. Not to recount every thing every day. But just whenever and whatever I feel like. Just for fun. Just to get some of my internal chatter out of my head.  An outlet. A place to write free from pressure. A place where my writing may or may not be read by others, and it doesn't really matter to me either way. A writing exercise, free from expectations. Never on my to-do-list--

uh oh, I just noticed the "pursuit" part of the definition of hobby. I don't want to pursue anything. Pursue = chase. But wait! Pursue also means "engage in." So it's ok. 

Ok, I can have a hobby. A meaningless hobby. A meaningless hobby that may be meaningful sometimes and meaningless other times. May be boring sometimes. Interesting other times. Funny sometimes. Sad sometimes. Good writing sometimes. Bad writing other times.

But enough with the labels, the definitions, the explanations.  "A Meaningless Hobby" is a funny name (at least my brother thinks so, and so do I), so it stays. 

As for my reluctance about blogging (that's another thing I've been asked about), I think  I explained some of that in the first entry; I thought it would take away from "more important" writing time and energy. I also, personally, don't enjoy spending a lot of time reading things online, so I rarely read other people's blogs. I also have privacy concerns, not just for myself but for those in my life who may inspire me to write. But, to be honest, a HUGE part of my resistance to blogging was just the word "blog." 

BLLLLOG. Sounds like blah. Sounds like someone throwing up. I don't like the sound of it. And I'm quite sensitive to sound. The word does not resonate with me. In fact, it evokes a feeling of heaviness, yuckiness, and darkness. Like a bog! Blog.